Guest Bio

The Faith & Family Legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

The 700 Club

CBN.com
ABOUT ALVEDA
Alveda King is a political activist, author, and speaker with a rich heritage. Her uncle is the influential Martin Luther King Jr. who spearheaded the civil rights movement. Alveda has taken up her family’s desire for justice by becoming the director of African American Outreach for Priests for Life, an organization that campaigns against abortion. Today, she has six living children, but in the early 1970s, she suffered one involuntary and one voluntary abortion. The procedures damaged her cervix and forced her to miscarry later in her life. The physical toll on her body and the emotional strain of the abortions led to the demise of her first marriage and a host of other issues. Alveda divorced two more times in her life, but she met Jesus in 1983 and that changed everything. Before then, she knew of the Lord but didn’t make a commitment to him. When she became a college professor she met another teacher who challenged her and answered her questions using scripture. God opened her eyes and changed her.

KING TRUTHS

Alveda is a guardian of the King Family Legacy; she oversees that the truths that have made the King family influential and prosperous are protected and continue to be shared. Alveda believes that these principles will help people and the nation to be successful and triumphant. She highlights the King core value of fighting for justice because it is the very essence of who they are. Fighting injustice started with Alveda’s grandfather who lobbied hard for black privileges while pastoring at their church. Alveda’s father also promoted credit unions for his church members and encouraged people to further their education during the civil rights movement. Alveda reveals that complacency is one of the biggest roadblocks faced in the effort to achieve justice. Marginal betterment often impedes people from pushing for the full achievement. Alveda encourages people to keep fighting and do as much as possible.

Another important core value that Alveda shares is the importance of defending life. There has been speculation regarding whether Martin Luther King Jr. supported abortion or not. Alveda highlights several portions of his writings and her personal recollections to clarify that he indeed was not a supporter of abortion. Alveda’s parents conceived her before marriage and her mother considered aborting her but when her grandfather found out he said, “…that’s not a lump of flesh in your belly. That’s my granddaughter.” Her grandfather learned from his parents that life is sacred from the moment of conception. Alveda came to realize that abortion violates the civil rights of a person living in the womb. Alveda writes that, “babies in the womb are people; that they are as helpless as slaves in the hands of their slave masters, as vulnerable as people who are aged or infirm, yet all are entitled to life and human dignity, from natural conception or fertilization until natural death.”

Alveda also reveals the King core value of getting a good education. Both Alveda’s father and grandfather believed that education was the key to a better life. They both encouraged people to further their education and seek opportunities. Alveda herself was a teacher at one time in her life. The King family believes that the bedrock of society is good education. Martin Luther wrote, “The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and to think critically. Intelligence plus character –that is the goal of true education.” Alveda points out the two essentials of good education are keen minds and developing strong moral standards.